Cinema
Förstadsprästen
Georg af Klercker · 1917
Synopsis
Erik Dyhre, pastor of a suburb, is held in low regard by his father-in-law, General von Tillisch, and must see his mother in secret; the general prefers his own son, Ove, an officer, who is courting his beautiful goddaughter Elin von Prangen. During a ride on horseback, Ove and Elin see the pastor tear a street girl, Stella, away from the violence of her pimp, Fort Rudolf. Elin conceives an admiration for him, and Rudolf a desire for revenge.
Context
The film was shot in the summer of 1917 in the studio of the Hasselblad company, in Gothenburg, which then competed with the Stockholm company; it contains several documentary views of the city. The Stockholm critics, usually favourable to this company's films, found it sentimental this time, the acting excessive and the direction inadequate, and reproached this studio, as always, for interiors that were too small and too theatrical. When the two companies merged, its director was pushed aside.
Who it is for
A silent film, with Swedish intertitles, of about seventy minutes, hard to see. Social melodrama takes precedence over the portrait of the neighbourhood.
Prizes and reception
Rediscovered along with the work of its author, who is now regarded as the third great name of Swedish silent cinema, alongside Sjöström and Stiller.